Bills Beat Blog

NFL flex scheduling to begin Week 5

With the 2014 regular season unveiling scheduled for Wednesday night, the National Football League announced a change to the normal scheduling from last season only a few hours ahead of the reveal.

The league will still go through their normal slate of games, but the difference is in the popular idea of flex scheduling. In prior years, Sunday Night Football could choose to flex an afternoon game into their time slot if it was perceived as a more competitive game. That exercise started in Week 11.

Starting in 2014, games as early as Week 5 will be able to be flexed into the primetime slot of Sunday Night Football. There are restrictions, however. From Week 5 through Week 10, the flex scheduling option can only be used twice. Once the league gets to Week 11, games can be flexed every single week if they so choose.

All of the other rules regarding flexible scheduling remain the same, including Thursday, Saturday and Monday night contests remaining unavailable to be flexed into Sunday night. For a primer on all the rules involved with flexible scheduling, click here.